Scout strikes gold with patriotic pallets

A stack of splintered pallets sitting in the corner of a driveway looks like a pile of extra work to most folks, but one Utah boy saw those old pallets as a ticket to summer camp.

When 11-year-old Sam Davies of Brigham City, Utah, told his parents he wanted to go to Boy Scout camp, his parents said he could—as long as he earned the money himself, according to the TV station KSL Broadcasting in Salt Lake City.

With a goal of making $200 in a month, Sam looked around for ideas … and saw an American flag his family had made years before out of a wooden pallet. Inspiration struck.

"We already knew how to make them, so why not make more? I decided to make three of them," Sam told the station.

His mother posted the painted pallets on the local classified advertising website for $25 apiece, hoping for 10 orders to cover the cost of paint. Instead, the family fielded 50 orders in the first 10 minutes and a hundred by the next morning.

To keep up with demand, Sam hired his three older sisters and solicited a family friend to donate more pallets. The profits will be plenty to send the kid to camp—as well as all the other Boy Scouts and adult leaders in his troop.

We could all use some positive news and thankfully we have some for you: Many signs are showing that the freight markets are starting to recover.
As we mentioned last week, April was one of the worst months for freight activity in over 26 years. But in looking at the data for May, we are starting to see a much...